Biomechanics & Mechanobiology: A fusion of disciplines

Aim and Scope

The Fourth Japan-Switzerland Workshop on Biomechanics (JSB2014) aims to
bring together actively participating scientists in the biomechanical communities
of Japan and Switzerland for academic discussion and intercultural exchange.
It will focus on Biomechanics & Mechanobiology: A fusion of disciplines. Biomechanics in our field is approaching to
biology rapidly and steadily, and more and more people in biology are realizing
that consideration of the mechanical aspects is crucial to essential understanding
of biology. Our vision is to strengthen the relationship between the biomechanics
and mechanobiology communities for future advancement in the life sciences.
In this spirit, the scientific motivation for this workshop is to give
an overview of recent progress in the quantitative description, modeling
and simulation of biomechanical processes driven by fusion of biomechanics
and mechanobiology. Although the focus will be on biomechanics and mechanobiology,
other areas of biomechanics exploring the different hierarchies from nano
to macro will also be welcomed. We are hoping to integrate these areas
and develop new fields through exchange of the most recent scientific information
among Japanese and Swiss biomechanics scientists, biophysicists, mechanical
engineers, biologists and physicians, and graduate students during stay
in the same hotel for 4 days.

Background

The Japanese-Swiss cooperation on biomechanics originates from the close
personal relationship between Profs. Jean-Jacques Meister at EPFL, Switzerland
and Kozaburo Hayashi at Osaka University, Japan (currently at Okayama University
of Science). They had been exchanging scientific information for a long
time as their laboratories have common biomechanical research subjects,
and faculty members and graduate students in both laboratories had often
visited their counter laboratories for joint studies on the functional
adaptation and remodeling of biological tissues, and on cellular mechanics.
Within this connection, they organized the SJB "New Directions in
Cellular and Tissue Engineering" held in Les Diablerets in September
2001, which was continued by the Second JSB on Biomechanics on "New
Trends in Biomechanics: from Biomolecule to Tissue" held in Kyoto
in September 2005 (Co-organizers: Profs. Masaaki Sato at Tohoku University,
Japan and Nikolaos Stergiopulos at EPFL, Switzerland) and by the Third
SJB on Biomechanics on " Biomechanical Imaging: from Nano to Macro"
held in Engelberg in September 2009 (Co-organizers: Profs. Ralph Müller
at ETH Zürich, Switzerland, and Masao Tanaka at Osaka University, Japan).

Sponsors

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research
(Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)